An exemplary prior art jack for a trailer, such as a boat trailer to be towed by a motor vehicle, is shown in FIG. 1. Jack 10 is mounted on horizontal member 12 of boat trailer 14. When trailer 14 is detached from a towing vehicle (not shown), horizontal member 12 is generally supported so that tongue 16 does not rest on the ground. Such support may be accomplished by a structure such as a block or a variable length apparatus that has an easily adjustable height such as jack 10. Jack 10 is especially suitable for raising tongue 16 of horizontal member 12 to the same level as a hitch 18 of the towing vehicle. Jack 10 also typically provides a wheel 20 so that the horizontal member 12 may be moved with respect to the ground surface 22. Crank handle 24 is turned to telescope post 26 within sleeve 28 to thereby raise and lower horizontal member 12 with respect to ground surface 22.
To attach trailer 14 to hitch 18, a driver of the towing vehicle backs the vehicle up to the boat trailer 14 to position hitch 18 as close as possible to ball coupler 30 of trailer tongue 16. However, most vehicle drivers are conservative because hitting the trailer with the vehicle can cause great damage. Accordingly, even with skilled drivers, a distance usually remains between the towing vehicle's hitch 18 and the ball coupler 30 of the trailer 14.
To close this gap, a user must push trailer 14 on jack wheel 20 to position ball coupler 30 over hitch 18. It is to be understood that different coupling mechanisms and hitches may be used that are known in the art. Although jack wheel 20 pivots about post 26 to facilitate this maneuver, it is still a very difficult task because of the weight of trailer 14 (and any boat thereon) and the fact that it is very hard to pivot jack wheel 20 while it bears such considerable weight. A user generally must kick jack wheel 20 in order to turn to in the appropriate direction for bringing ball coupler 30 toward hitch 18. Then the user must push on jack 10 or horizontal member 12 to bring ball coupler 30 to hitch 18.
After placing ball coupler 30 over hitch 18, the user turns crank handle 24 to lower ball coupler 30 onto hitch 18. After ball coupler 30 is secured onto hitch 18, the user turns crank handle 24 to raise jack wheel 20 off ground surface 22. Then the user pulls pin 32 to allow jack 10 to pivot into a horizontal orientation, so that jack 10 is out of the way during trailer transport and storage.
Moreover, another problem is commonly encountered by boat trailer users. After bearing the weight of the trailer for a period of time on a soft ground surface such as gravel, soil, sand or asphalt, the jack wheel 20 may sink into the ground, thereby rendering it difficult to thereafter move the trailer 14. For a trailer hauling a typical boat, the weight of the tongue could be on the order of 500 pounds. Thus, it can be exceedingly difficult for a user to lift horizontal member 12 in order to dislodge jack wheel 20 from its embedded position in the ground. Also, such lifting attempts can result in great back strain and a high likelihood of injury.
Accordingly, the present invention presents an apparatus and method to ease the guidance and maneuvering of a trailer tongue.